Monday, March 14, 2011

Hi everyone. I'm back from my vacation. Wait, before I get into that, the reason for this post.

March 15, 2011

The significance of the date? It's the last day you can upgrade Autodesk 2008 products. As of March 16th, 2011, all 2008 products fall into the legacy category. I'm sure you've gotten 200 emails from Autodesk and your reseller already, so consider this just a late reminder. After all, if youre' reading this, you're probably using Revit. That goes for everyone except for poor James H. in Georgia who's using Microstation 95. Let's have a moment of silent vegetation for poor James who's company is probably struggling to find 8088 CPUs that can run DOS 6.0.

For the rest of you, last year on March 15th meant that we were a mere month away from the Revit 2011 products. For any of you reading this that do have 2008 products that were thinking about upgrading, do it now to save 20%. Nah, wait until the 16th and give your reseller and Autodesk 20% more money and don't forget to tip the doorman on your way out...of business.

After all, how can you expect to stay in business if you're using older products and haven't invested in Revit. I know...enough of that.

So, about my vacation. I did something I've never done before. I went 5 days without checking my email. I have to tell you that it had the most profound effect on me. I could actually sit for minutes and ultimately hours at a time with no worries, no stress and not a care in the world. With all of the constant bombardment of technology, emails and news, I've never actually unplugged for anything more than 8 hours while I was sleeping.

Yes, I do love technology and information, but the world didn't stop because I wasn't connected. What was most ironic was my complaint of the internet speed on the ship. Imagine this. You're on a ship. They have satellite internet. The entire ship is wifi enabled. And yet, I was annoyed that it was dialup speed. Can you imagine the nerve of people to not appreciate the fact that there even was internet? How did Magellan sail around the world without GPS. Remember, back then, the world was flat (or in modern language, 2D). Would Magellan have been too busy updating his Facebook status or tweeting to have done what he did?

Many great men have done many great things without modern technology. Who's to say that they couldn't have done even more great things if only they had the tools of today. Today, I honor and respect their fearlessness and desire to go forward into the great unknown. You Revit users are like those great explorers of times past. Does that make CAD users cowards and fearful and change, discovery and anything more than their small flat world?